First Full Peal on Orleans Bells!

by Sr. Alicia Mitman

On July 15, 2009, ten Whitechapel bells arrived at the Church of the Transfiguration in Orleans, MA. The Bell Tower was just newly completed and stood waiting. They were hung in the first week of August and thus began our adventure into the world of bell ringing. Barely over a year later, on July 25, 2010 we celebrated the ringing of the First Full Peal on our bells. It is fitting that this was rung by our friends and supporters from Boston and from New York City who have all contributed so much time and energy this past year to teaching us both in our Towers and welcomed us to theirs. Another very exciting aspect of this Peal is that one of our very own ringers, Br. Matthew Gillis, rang with them on the tenor! Sunday the 25th was a gorgeous day and even though it was a bit warm, the Tower is in such a position that it catches any slight breeze so there was some air flow, but not enough to cause problems with the ropes! The ringers all gathered at 10:15am to await the end of our church service which would signal the beginning of the peal. At 10:30 they began and as they rang, the church emptied but the Atrium and Common outside the Tower were full of on-lookers eager to see and try to understand what was going on. Because the ringers are right there, it is very important to keep people quiet and not too close to the Tower in order to avoid distracting them. I believe that this is a bit unique to ringing. A few of our ringers were on hand the entire time, not only to watch and listen, but to “police” the on-lookers! We had a number of visitors who walked up from Rock Harbor, where we are situated, as they were curious about what they were hearing and what was going on. I was very grateful to Bruce Butler for bringing us a supply of the wonderful brochures produced by the Guild, as I handed out a lot! It was great to have something to give people. During the 3 hours, 8 mins of the peal, people came and went but as the end of the peal approached, our entire Community slowly and quietly gathered on the Common so they could congratulate and thank the ringers. It was quite fun to see the surprise when at the words “Stand please” a huge applause broke out around them! Refreshments were served for all, giving an opportunity for everyone to greet them and ask questions. We are very grateful to all those who rang that day, and for their generous support of our Tower and our ringers. And of course, we are very proud of Br Matthew! The Peal is listed on Campanophile but I thought I would list it here as well:

North American Guild

Orleans, Massachusetts

Church of the Transfiguration Sunday,

25 July 2010 in 3 hr 08 (21)

5021 Grandsire Caters

Composed: Albert M Tyler

1 Andrew N Tyler

2 Geoffrey Davies

3 Laura Dickerson

4 Emily R Russell

5 Jeremy C Bates

6 Gregory F Russell

7 Edward J Futcher (C)

8 Maurice W Southworth

9 Timothy J Barnes

10 Br. Matthew Gillis

First peal on the bells.

First peal: 10.

Posted Jul 27, 2010

Responses

Lyn BarnettJul 28 2010, 1:01 am

Well done, all. Congratulations to the Orleans ringers for remarkable progress!